Life in Weyers Cave

Today is the first day it didn't rain and the weather was absolutely beautiful. The girls worked hard finishing up on the cleaning of the student apartments. I helped out today. I wet-mopped all 81 steps! They are now clean and will need to be stocked on Monday with goodies such as pots, pans, hangers, dishes, linens, and toilet paper. I tried to go to the little grocery store two blocks from our home this morning, but apparently it doesn't open until noon on Saturday. It is amazing how few hours these places stay open. I stopped at the little butcher shop and asked for some bacon and they had to cut it. You have to tell them how much you want in grams. This will take some getting used to! We decided to forego the cheval (horsemeat). Tonight we went out to dinner at a restaurant they has one thing on its menu: barbecued beef. Not the red sauce or the vinegar sauces we have in the US, but a thick black sauce, not too sweet. It was very good. All you can eat,...

This old town hall is guilt with real gold and dates back to the 1500's 

Our apartment building 

The family with Jim Kelly, our mentor 

Dianna got to fly the plane to New York 

Two adorable children from Brussels who patiently taught us how to play rock, paper, scissors in Flemish 

Cathryn makes a pretty pilot too 

This is our apartment - the middle left with the screen on the window 

David and Deb in a very old section of town that used to take in widows -- sort of like a convent 

I love this old building. It is just a couple of blocks from our flat. 

When these two Belgians saw me taking pictures, they insisted on posing in this alley for me.  

Typical Street 

Cathryn with an anti-Bush sign 

I expected the streets of Antwerp to be made of cobblestone, because I had been told as much. Uneven, with lots of pieces of grit and sand so that nobody wears sandals. Well, not many people wear sandals, but that is because everyone is already in coats because it is so cool outside and rains several times a day. The cobblestones are square, about seven inches square, and fairly flat, but walking is just plain dangerous. There would be lawsuits galore if this were the states. Some are missing, some are not sealed in properly and move when you walk on them, and some squirt water up at your shoes when you step on them! Others are uneven, and some are just plain missing so you have a three inch deep hole in the sidewalk. There are some places in the older parts of the city where you have the classic rounded cobblestones, but they are usually in the streets. In addition, many of the sidewalks are not flat left to right, but sloped towards the street, so it would be much...

Of the many differences between the US and Europe, one is certainly the money. Recently (a few years ago) , the entire continent of Europe decided to go to one standard currency. Great Britain didn't go with the other countries on this, but they are an island! The basic unit is the Euro (plural, at least in Dutch is Euro) and the coins come in 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, cents pieces and one Euro and two Euro denominations. The full Euro coins are bi-color and do stand out. The bills are colorful and smaller than American bills. Fortunately, one of the things that I did before I came was to learn the numbers in Flemish. Not only does that make it easier for me to buy things, but it really came in handy when we called someone and the message was that we had to press 90 to leave a message. Of course, the message was in Flemish and you can't ask a recording if it speaks English. We had one experience today that was priceless. The girls had been asked to clean the 31 student ...

Yes, we made it to Belgium. I am still so excited I can barely sleep. We got up early Monday morning and packed and cleaned until our van came at 11:00 -- right on time. We had a lovely cleaning lady, Ana, come at 10:30 and she was working busily as we left, but still we could have used another half an hour to get the house the way I would have like it. I guess there is never enough time, but I didn't get that last walk-through. The ride was uneventful, as were the plane flights. We went to Reagan Airport in DC, flew to LaGuardia in New York, then the seven hour trip to Brussels. Although it was through the night, we were unable to sleep. Customs was simple. Our luggage didn't get lost -- all 250 pounds arrived safely. Everything was in order and we didn't have any mishaps. Jim Kelly was waiting for us when we got out of customs and we came "home" to Antwerp. But first, we stopped and exchanged our money for Euros. We thought we would burst if ...

The people who will be renting the house stopped by to get the keys and sign the contract to day. They seem very nice and I am not worried about the house at all, but trying to get it ready for them has been a real adventure. Cleaning out the closets and drawers has helped me find things I didn't know I had and haven't seen in many years. Yesterday we cleaned out the kitchen cabinets and today I donated a lot of food to the missionaries. Today I worked on my bedroom. But I still feel all is in order fairly well. (Not that I couldn't use another week or two.) We met with our accountant this afternoon to make sure she had all of our books in order. I have offered the girls a quarter for anything they finish off out of the freezers. There is still lots of food. We will get home the same day as Allen, so I need to have his room fairly presentable as well. Aaaarrrghhhhh!!!!!!! 12 HOURS! What in heck am I doing at a computer!!!!

The "rock" was a piece of broken glass the size of a grain of rice. It was deeply embedded, but is now gone and I can't even tell it was there. I am grateful for having a good doctor! Bryan, the 18-year old, spent the second night in his new apartment in Florida last night -- along with a direct hit from Hurricane Charley. I haven't heard from him yet, but heard he had 100 mile an hour winds. When I spoke to him at 8 pm, he said they were taking a fellow resident down to the hospital who had been struck by lightning. He is wonderful at any kind of handywork and is quite strong. I am sure he will be a great asset in the clean up and probably earn a little pocket money for his schooling. David spent the night in Columbia SC last night and is driving home in bumper to bumper traffic as the people clear out of the North Carolina coast trying to escape Charley as he comes up the coast. My brother stopped in Raleigh on the way to Myrtle Beach to spend a week t...

Our family will be travelling to Antwerp, Belgium, on August 23, 2004 to spend four months chaperoning 30 college students for their semester abroad. Presently, the family includes my husband, David, who teaches accounting, myself, and my daughters Cathryn, 16, and Dianna, 14. We are currently working hard to prepare for the trip. We are deep cleaning the house so we can rent it out, walking every day trying to break in new shoes, learning Flemish, and trying to decide what to pack. Apparently we only have a 50 pounds per suitcase, 70 pounds per person limit. David is now in Florida at an Accounting conference and taking our 18 year old son Bryan to pilot training school. Bryan was in an accident Sunday in Florida and the fate of his care is yet in limbo. However, he wasn't hurt and the accident was not charged against him. Last night I stepped on a rock in my garage and have it embedded in my foot, so I will have to tke time off today to run to the doctor, who can't se...